Related papers: Heat engine driven by photon tunneling in many-bod…

A dynamical model of a highly efficient heat engine is proposed, where an applied temperature difference maintains the motion of particles around the circuit consisting of two asymmetric narrow channels, in one of which the current flows…

A huge amount of thermal energy is available close to material surfaces in radiative and non-radiative states, which can be useful for matter characterization or for energy devices. One way to harness this near-field energy is to scatter it…

We study the functioning of a three-level thermal machine when acting on a many-qubit system, the entire system being placed in an electromagnetic field in a stationary out-of-thermal-equilibrium configuration. This realistic setup stands…

Quantum heat engines are modeled by thermodynamic cycles with quantum-mechanical working media. Since high engine efficiencies require adiabaticity, a major challenge is to yield a nonvanishing power output at finite cycle times. Shortcuts…

We study the performances of an imperfect quantum many-body Otto engine based on free-fermion systems. Starting from the thermodynamic definitions of heat and work along ideal isothermal, adiabatic, and isochoric transformations, we…

We consider a three-stroke engine in the microscopic regime, where the working body of the engine is composed of a two-level system. The working body of the engine aims to withdraw heat from the hot heat bath, generate work, and discharge…

Radiative thermal diodes based on two-element structures rectify heat flows thanks to a temperature dependence of material optical properties. The heat transport asymmetry through these systems, however, remains weak without a significant…

We present a detailed study of a three-level quantum heat engine operating at maximum efficient power function, a trade-off objective function defined by the product of the efficiency and power output of the engine. First, for near…

The power and efficiency of many-body heat engines can be boosted by performing cooperative non-adiabatic operations in contrast to the commonly used adiabatic implementations. Here, the key property relies on the fact that non-adiabaticity…

Energy is a vital resource and hence there is a continuous strive to improve upon existing technologies and to find new ones that address that basic need. The conversion of thermal energy is the primary method of generating electrical…

We analyze a heat machine based on a periodically-driven quantum system permanently coupled to hot and cold baths. It is shown that the maximal power output of a degenerate $V$-type three-level heat engine is that generated by two…

We show that a quantum Otto cycle in which the medium, an interacting ultracold gas, is driven between a superfluid and an insulating phase can outperform similar single particle cycles. The presence of an energy gap between the two phases…

We investigate the quantum thermodynamics of two quantum systems, a two-level system and a four-level quantum photocell, each driven by photon pulses as a quantum heat engine. We set these systems to be in thermal contact only with a cold…

We investigate direct energy and heat transfer between two distant sites of a triple quantum dot connected to reservoirs, where one of the edge dots is driven by an ac-gate voltage. We theoretically propose how to implement heat and cooling…

The quest for good thermoelectric materials and/or high-efficiency thermoelectric devices is of primary importance from theoretical and practical points of view. Low-dimensional structures with quantum dots or molecules are promising…

We identify and interpret the possible quantum thermal machine regimes with a transverse-field Ising model as the working substance. In general, understanding the emergence of such regimes in a many-body quantum system is challenging due to…

Thermoelectric devices are heat engines, which operate as generators or refrigerators using the conduction electrons as a working fluid. The thermoelectric heat-to-work conversion efficiency has always been typically quite low, but much…

Brownian heat engines use local temperature gradients in asymmetric potentials to move particles against an external force. The energy efficiency of such machines is generally limited by irreversible heat flow carried by particles that make…

The standard approach to quantum engines is based on equilibrium systems and on thermodynamic transformations between Gibbs states. However, non-equilibrium quantum systems offer enhanced experimental flexibility in the control of their…

Heat engines constitute the major building blocks of modern technologies. However, conventional heat engines with higher power yield lesser efficiency and vice versa and respect various power-efficiency trade-off relations. This is also…